Performance of calves fed a limited amount of milk in Eastern Anatolia conditions

The purpose of this research was to study the possibility of reducing weaning age in dairy calves, Brown Swiss calves were weaned at 30, 45 and 60 d of age. In the milk feeding period, the amount of daily milk given to calves in the groups was kept constant at 7 % of their birth weight. The body weight of 4-month calves fed milk for 30, 45 and 60 d were 82.6 +/- 2.0, 85.2 +/- 2.0 and 79.1 +/- 2.0 kg, respectively. The body weight of 6-month calves weaned at 30, 45 and 60 d of age were 127.8 +/- 2.9, 133.2 +/- 2.9 and 127.2 +/- 2.7 kg, respectively. The average weight gains determined between birth and six months of age for the calves weaned at 30, 45 and 60 d of age were 0.51 +/- 0.01, 0.55 +/- 0.01 and 0.52 +/- 0.01 kg, respectively. The differences among the groups were found to be non-significant. The effect of weaning age was non-significant for the total dry matter of feed consumed per kilogram of weight gain. The results of this study suggested that Brown Swiss calves could be weaned at 30 d of age without having any adverse effect oil their growth and feed conversion efficiency.